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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23876239">A New Lease</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerraXIII/pseuds/TerraXIII'>TerraXIII</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The story of Zack and Aerith [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:13:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>928</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23876239</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerraXIII/pseuds/TerraXIII</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A look into the future, while also traveling into the past. This is how our story begins. The story of two people, from two different worlds, learning that fate had brought them together.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cloud/Tifa, Zack Fair/Aerith Gainsborough</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The story of Zack and Aerith [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1720729</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A New Lease</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>"Maybe... it's time I shaped my own story." – Auron</em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <em>Five years after the war with Xehanort…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Radiant Garden, The Great Maw...</em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>CRACK! BOOM!</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>Thunder and lightning cried out as rain fell upon the gap in the surrounding blue canyons. Panting could be heard coming from two combatants as knelt on the ground, tired and wounded from attempting to help their friend. A blonde young man could barely stand as he glared at his one-winged foe.</p>
<p>“Sephiroth!” Cloud called out as he held his large Buster Sword, ready to strike the silver-haired man. Several wounds could be seen on his arms and face, blood slowly trickling from them. His black clothes had been sliced in places from Sephiroth's attacks, ones that made it seem like the winged man was simply playing with them.</p>
<p>“Cloud, I thought you would have learned by now. Each time you defeat me, I come back, stronger than before. You and I are destined to keep fighting till one of us finally succumbs. Accept your fate and embrace the darkness.” Sephiroth said, reaching out with his free hand towards his foe.</p>
<p>“Never!”</p>
<p>“I see.” Sephiroth said after a slight pause, “the light still burns too bright within you. I guess I must extinguish it before you succumb.” He said turning to look at Cloud's wounded compatriots.</p>
<p>“Leave them alone!” The warrior charged once more towards Sephiroth. With a swift strike, Sephiroth disarmed Cloud, causing him to fall to the ground.</p>
<p>“Now watch as I extinguish your light.”</p>
<p>“Tifa! Aerith! Run!” Cloud screamed from the ground.</p>
<p>The raven-haired woman attempted to get up from her crumbled position on the ground, the lady in pink trying to do the same.</p>
<p>“Come at me, you bastard. Leave Aerith out of this.” Tifa hissed as she stumbled to her feet.</p>
<p>“Resistance is futile.” The silver-haired fighter gripped his katana, pointing it straight towards Aerith. In a flash, he had pushed off the ground and charged straight for the young woman.</p>
<p>“Aerith!” Cloud and Tifa both cried out.</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>BOOM! CRACK!</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>… Three years after the war with Xehanort.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Olympus Coliseum, Hades Chamber…</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I can’t believe it! You fools let him escape!” Hades, Lord of the Underworld, roared as he looked at his pink and green minions, the flame atop of his head burning red. The Lord of the Underworld slammed his fist onto his stone throne, echoing inside of the stone chamber. “Find him! Quickly! Before I turn you both to ash!”</p>
<p>“Yes, Lord Hades,” Pain and Panic exclaimed in their high squeaky voices quickly scurrying out of their master's chambers.</p>
<p>Hades sighed “I feel like I’ll get better results if I do this myself,” he quietly said before walking out of his chambers.</p>
<p>A lone figure entered making sure that the room was empty. His red clothes barely made a sound as he walked over to the table that sat in the middle of the room. Running his gloved hand across it, he found what he was looking for and pushed. The table shuddered and shook as it slowly moved away revealing a swirling vortex underneath. The figure pulled a large sword off of his back and slowly sunk it into the middle of the vortex.</p>
<p>“Come on, kid. Your story's not over yet,” he said as he knelt there. Feeling a tug on his weapon, he grunted and slowly pulled the sword out of the vortex. A lone raven-haired youth appeared, holding the blade with both hands “There you are. Told you I’d come back for you.”</p>
<p>The young man didn’t say anything as he hung from the weapon, before being dragged on to the ground.</p>
<p>“Just in time, maybe. Hopefully, you still have some sense of self left in ya.” The figure said kneeling to pick the young man up. “Now to get you out of here.”</p>
<p>The pair slowly made their way through the winding and twisting corridors of the Underworld, moving as quietly and as quickly as they could. The black and grey-haired man peeked around the final corner over his sunglasses. Seeing the coast was clear, he made a mad dash for the door, keeping a hold of his companion. But before he could even get halfway, footsteps could be heard behind them.</p>
<p>“Stop! In the name of Lord Hades, you are required to stop!” The green minion shouted as he and his companion chased the two humans.</p>
<p>“Looks like the gig is up, kid,” the figure said reaching the cracked door. “You’ll have to go on without me.” Pushing the young man through the opening, he quickly closed the doors to the Underworld and turned to face the two lackeys.</p>
<p>“His story isn’t quite over yet.” The older human drew his large sword and charged the henchmen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The young man's finger twitched as he felt his body start to warm up. Looking up from a prone position, he saw a pair of golden gates with light shining through them. Grunting, he slowly pushed himself to his feet stumbling towards the gates, his arm reaching out for the light. The young man staggered closer and closer before soon he started to feel a warmth come over his cold skin.</p>
<p><em>“Your story's not over yet. You were cut down cruelly by fate. But now, you are free.” </em>A voice seemed to say from someplace far away. <em>“Your destiny lies elsewhere though. Just remember… You are now the author of your fate.”</em></p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <em>Radiant Garden, Central Square…</em>
</p>
<p>“Help! Somebody help me!” A flower girl called out in the rain as she knelt next to an unconscious black-haired man.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is my first attempt at a Zerith fanfic series, and I am excited about it as I love both of the characters so much and can't wait to bring them to life.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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